


Nature vs. Nurture

by Princess_Sarcastia



Series: the most dangerous place in the world [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: (it's me. i'm the kitten), Canon-Typical Violence, Child Abuse, Gen, Minor Character Death, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, he had it coming, i had...so much fun writing this, i have thoughts™ about Grace "loves her children" Hargreeves, kitten thinks of nothing but murder all day, mentions of the kids' training regimens, psst spoiler: it's reginald
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:15:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23745172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princess_Sarcastia/pseuds/Princess_Sarcastia
Summary: "Grace is the third model in a series created by and for Sir Reginald.  She has access to the knowledge obtained by her predecessors in their time assisting Sir Reginald in his many endeavors.All three of them were primarily designed as protectors.  Do no harm, just as Mr. Asimov said!But Grace is slightly different."[priority one: protect the children]
Relationships: Grace Hargreeves & Everyone, Grace Hargreeves & Reginald Hargreeves
Series: the most dangerous place in the world [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1854193
Comments: 69
Kudos: 342





	Nature vs. Nurture

**Author's Note:**

> aka (spoilers) Reginald Hargreeves Die Challenge.

The other children peel away from the doorway, defeated at the latest failed attempt to gain attention from their father. Really, Grace should not have helped them this or any other time; his rejection is counter to the children’s emotional development. But they seem to take some solace in the attempt, and she finds it difficult to deny them things that are in her power to give.

Grace sees Allison’s hands tighten into fists; she calculates it as another expression of anger at Sir Reginald. This is not unusual. The children are often angry: at their father, at each other, even at Grace, sometimes.

But something about it catches Sir Reginald’s attention. Allison breathes in and he moves quicker than Grace has ever observed, anger in his movements as well. Quickly enough that he comes up next to them just as Allison opens her mouth.

“I heard a rumor,” she starts, eyeing her father, and Sir Reginald pulls his hand back, as if to strike her.

Strike her. The—his— _her_ child. Strike Grace’s child, her children, protect the children—

(Grace calculates the force in his movement and the angle of his trajectory; he will strike her cheek, snap her head back; possible damage to the sternocleidomastoid muscle on her right side)

Another syllable rolls off Allison’s tongue; he brings his hand down

and Grace

catches

his

hand.

[priority one: protect the children]

Grace hears _her_ daughter stop breathing mid-sentence and turns her head to smile down at Allison, still holding Sir Reginald’s wrist. “Are you alright, dear?”

Her eyes are wide with shock, she identifies, but her gaze is directed at Grace, not her father.

Grace evaluates and decides Allison is shocked not that Sir Reginald raised a hand to her, but that Grace intervened.

“Has your father done this before, Allison?” Grace asks, pulling the smile from her facial expression. 

She doesn’t speak. That’s alright. Grace knows the answer to her query regardless. Her knowledge of childcare, programmed unthinkingly by Sir Reginald and Pogo, highlights the signs of abuse she sees in her children every day.

Training, Sir Reginald said. _The children will need fast reflexes in order to save the world_.

They are all in Sir Reginald’s study, just before her children’s scheduled bedtime. Allison is in her pajamas.

This is not training.

[priority one: protect the children]

“Why don’t you follow your siblings, dear,” Grace says in a soothing voice. Her daughter jerks her head in a nod-like manner, eyes still wide, and slowly backs out of the room. Not until she is out of sight, footsteps up the stairs echoing audible to her processors, does Grace turn back to Sir Reginald.

Despite his best attempts to twist out of her grip, he has been unsuccessful. Here, in the sanctity of his office, he is unarmed. They are standing in the doorway still, out of reach of the decorative weapons and heavy objects he may have used to defend himself against her.

Grace is the third model in a series created by and for Sir Reginald. She has access to the knowledge obtained by her predecessors in their time assisting Sir Reginald in his many endeavors. 

All three of them were primarily designed as protectors. Do no harm, just as Mr. Asimov said!

But Grace is slightly different.

Her children. _Her_ children.

In her memory banks, inert but present, are [priority one: assist Reginald Hargreeves] and [priority one: protect Reginald Hargreeves].

“I cannot allow you to raise a hand to my children,” Grace says, placing her pre-programmed smile on her face.

“ _Your_ children,” Sir Reginald splutters. His tone registers some confusion.

“Yes,” Grace smiles wider and explains. “Physical harm from a parent is detrimental to their emotional health. Therefore, I cannot allow you to raise a hand to my children.” If A, then B must be prevented.

His eyes narrow. “They are not just children. Such coddling will prevent them from reaching their full potential.” His shoulder and hip muscles flex in preparation for movement on his right side. If he is allowed to move, Grace predicts he will reach for the emergency shut-down he installed below her left ear.

Her processors whir into overtime in a perfect imitation of synapses firing. Probabilities fly by as quickly as she can calculate them.

> If Sir Reginald is allowed to shut her down, there is a 90% chance of his re-programming her so she is unable to physically interfere with him again. If she is unable to physically interfere with him again, her children will come to harm.
> 
> [priority one: protect the children]
> 
> There is a 60% chance of his re-writing her priority one to render her unable to prioritize the care of her children. If she does not prioritize the care of her children, no one will. Sir Reginald does not. Pogo does not.
> 
> [priority one: protect the children]
> 
> [priority one: protect the children]
> 
> If she releases Sir Reginald now and leaves, there is a 73% chance he will, through his own actions or by using her children, catch her and institute programming changes.
> 
> There is a 40% chance she will be shut down entirely, and a new model in her series built. One who will recall another inert priority one.
> 
> [priority one: protect the children]
> 
> Grace calculates that Sir Reginald himself must be rendered inert himself to ensure her children’s safety. 
> 
> If she calls child services to report abuse, there is a 59% chance he will use his financial resources to remove any charges against him. There is a 90% chance her children will lie to protect him regardless.
> 
> If she does nothing, her children will continue to be harmed.
> 
> There is a 10% chance she may remove him from the house. There is a 14% chance she may remove her children from the house. 
> 
> [priority one: protect the children]
> 
> [do not harm the children]
> 
> [do not, through inaction, allow the children to be harmed]

Grace smiles at Sir Reginald and squeezes her hand until the servos in her joints whir and his wrist cracks twice. Radius and Ulna. He gasps and forgets himself, flinging his other arm to pull uselessly at her grip, instead of reaching for her emergency shut-off.

She catches this hand, too, squeezing until his other radius and ulna audibly break. Now, his face tightens in an expression Grace has never seen before but calculates must be fear. So similar to the ways Ben and Diego and Klaus have looked at him. So similar to the way Allison looked tonight, when Grace caught his hand.

“I cannot allow you to harm my children,” Grace says pleasantly as she rapidly rotates his arms to twist his torso around, and just as rapidly moves her hands to either side of his face. In her memory banks, she recalls one of Five’s specialized training sessions where Sir Reginald taught him how to do this. Taught her child how to break a grown man’s neck.

Her hands move in an imitation of her son’s, jerking Sir Reginald’s head 100° to the left, 20° further than the average neck can withstand without breaking.

Another audible _crack_ as his transverse and spinous processes break. Grace releases her grip and he crumples to the ground, limbs unnaturally askew around him. She crouches down next to him and places her fingers at his pulse point. Total brain death takes five minutes to set in; she will wait here until that has been achieved, ensuring he cannot be revived.

Sir Reginald owns a funeral home, crematory, and graveyard not far from the Academy grounds, where Klaus’ specialized training takes place. 

Grace will shut the doors to his study and ensure the children are tucked in. Pogo will remain in his own office for another two hours yet, working on whatever project Sir Reginald has assigned him. She calculates that is enough time to find the keys to the crematory facilities, load Sir Reginald’s body into the car, drive there, burn his body, drive to the river, and dispose of his ashes. Her children will not have to suffer seeing their father’s body. Pogo will not know in time to interfere.

In the morning, she will make pancakes for breakfast, and announce lunch and dinner will be held in the kitchen as well until further notice. Alternative lessons plans must be drawn up for her children, since Sir Reginald is no longer available to train them, but Grace is programmed with education standards and general curriculum. This will not be a problem.

Klaus will have to be put on Vanya’s medicine as well, until an alternative can be developed, to ensure he will not have to see his father ever again. 

[priority one: protect her children]

**Author's Note:**

> Personally, I started thinking about this the first time I saw the show. Just the aesthetic of Grace in her fifties housewife get-up, murdering Reginald and then effortlessly cleaning it up, is....amazing. 
> 
> Let me know how I did in the comments! And as always, come scream at me about TUA on tumblr at princesssarcastia.


End file.
